My Coupe project

[Bowie69]

What shocks are you going with?

[Tractor Dave]

What shocks are you going with?

Probably Koni. See what's left in the piggy bank.

[steve briance]

If you buy Bilstein b6 they come with bump stops and dust covers, you could even call it the economical choice

[B5NUT]

I tried to order the Bilstein but they were out of stock and was told they would not get further stock to the UK until around Feb. after extensive searching around the UK the only option I could find was Koni.

[Tractor Dave]

Got the afternoon in the garage.
Front subframe, wishbones and struts now all removed and ready for the sand blaster. Unfortunately, they aren’t taking any work until after Christmas so I will have to wait.
I found a quick way to remove the wishbone bushes. 34mm hole saw. I wish I’d discovered this earlier!


Subframe bushes were done in the normal way. One of the bushes was loose. Interesting. Everything is original and well past it’s best.


Plenty to do here.


I’m going to clean all the rust out of the wheel arches and chassis legs and give its some good quality rust proofing.


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[B5NUT]

Never tried to burn bushes out before I've always go down the press route, how do you remove the remaining metal ring?. Difficult to tell from the amount of dirt of the arches but is there much rust to deal with.

10 out of 10 for the gearbox support

[Tractor Dave]

With the subframe bushes you just need to burn out the top lip then they pull out easily. I did try burning out the wishbone bushes but it was taking too long. After cutting out the centre, it's easy to punch out the casing with a strong screwdriver.
Not too much rust. Chassis leg on right is the worst but it will clean up no problem.
I was going to weld up a support but the ladder works fine. It's not taking much weight.

[steve briance]

Haha, i burnt my bushes out as well - dead easy and quite good fun watching the rubber crumble away all by itself but only suits if planning the repaint route like you are.

I wonder why one subframe bush was loose? Have you measured the hole to see if its enlarged for some reason? (previous owner enlarged hole to help fitting???) I've never ever known and original bush to be loose on these cars. Damn them!

[Tractor Dave]

Haha, i burnt my bushes out as well - dead easy and quite good fun watching the rubber crumble away all by itself but only suits if planning the repaint route like you are.

I wonder why one subframe bush was loose? Have you measured the hole to see if its enlarged for some reason? (previous owner enlarged hole to help fitting???) I've never ever known and original bush to be loose on these cars. Damn them!

Not sure yet
The pas return pipe has been leaking for a long time by the looks of it. I wonder if the oil has eaten away some of the bush

[Bowie69]

All eight of my subframe bushes essentially fell out when I did them a few years ago, completely wasted.

[steve briance]

There needs to be a happy medium; bushes falling out is bad as is never coming out. Perhaps new parts just arent made to the correct size these days.

[Tractor Dave]

All eight of my subframe bushes essentially fell out when I did them a few years ago, completely wasted.

I think you have answered my puzzle. They are all fooked!

[Bowie69]

Perhaps new parts just arent made to the correct size these days.

These were the factory originals

[Tractor Dave]

Subframe cleaned up nicely with a power wash. The rust isn’t bad at all.
All the bush openings are identical. It appears that the loose bush had lost its metal case. It must have rusted out.



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[steve briance]

Thats good news then re your bush holes and your original coating still seems to be pretty much still there despite the flames!

The car will be well and truly saved by the time you are done.